Participation PIF - The Mysterious KAI Blades

[Demolition]

Second shave with the Mysterious Kai blade #2

Razor: Fatip Lo Storto Originale (aka FOCS)
Brush: Yaqi Black Marble 24mm Silvertip Badger
Soap: Vitos Classic Eucalyptus and Lanolin

I was in a hurry and made a really crappy lather (thin and airy), so I was a bit apprehensive about today's shave.

I needn't have worried. Vitos is super-slick, so all three passes were smooth and trouble-free. I even had a spasm in my right hand while reaching across my face to shave my left cheek during the ATG pass. Visions of cutting my nose off flashed through my mind, but the jerkiness and halting motion didn't even cause any tugging or snags.

As has become usual, there was no post-shave irritation, so no ASB was required. Looking forward to tomorrow's shave with anticipation now!

 

[fast shaver]

Kai Blade #3 Shave #1 Merkur Future Razor & Arko soap were used.
Got a nice close smooth shave this A.M. I used #4 setting for the first pass & #3 setting for the next two passes. Setting #2 was used for ATG passes. It went very good for me. No nicks or irritation noted.

 

[Slanterino]

Why is it that everyone here seems to get along with this blade except me?

 

[xiletero]

Why is it that everyone here seems to get along with this blade except me?

I have had more irritation than with other blades....no cuts. And have tried many different razors..... . Shaves close but at a burning price.

 

[fast shaver]

Why is it that everyone here seems to get along with this blade except me?

What razor are you using.? Some razors will not get along good with certain blades.

 

[Demolition]

Third shave with the Mysterious Kai blade #2

Razor: Fatip Lo Storto Originale (aka FOCS)
Brush: Simpson Special S1 Best Badger
Soap: RazoRock Black Label

All three passes with the FOCS/Kai pairing were quick and trouble-free. My ATG and XTG passes were especially comfortable and smooth. The extreme blade-feel and skin sensitivity that I experienced with the first Kai blade have not re-surfaced (knock wood).

As has become routine, I did not have to apply any ASB because there was no post-shave irritation.

 

[Demolition]

Why is it that everyone here seems to get along with this blade except me?

I have had more irritation than with other blades....no cuts. And have tried many different razors..... . Shaves close but at a burning price.

I experienced a mild burning sensation on at least half of my shaves with the first Kai blade that I tried. There was extreme blade-feel right from the beginning, so I'm attributing it to that.

On the other hand, the second blade has been very smooth for the first three shaves. So far, it has been like night and day... which isn't really a good thing because it shows a lack of consistency. I've said (in previous Participation PIFs) that my most valued traits are consistency and predictability. Any blade worth its steel should perform with consistency from shave to shave without unexpectedly mauling your face!

As far as the Kais are concerned, I started to wonder if the inconsistency stems from the blades not being glued to their wrappers.
Of my five Kais, three have slightly scored the wrappers, possibly due to shifting during mailing. I'd think that the blade edges rubbing on the paper must have a dulling effect.

 

[Space_Cadet]

consistency and predictability

+1

 

[fast shaver]

Kai Blade #3 Shave #2
The Kai gave me a nice smooth close shave this A.M.
One pass on 3.5 and 2 passes on 3. XTG pass was on setting #2.
No nicks or irritation noted.
The Futur Razor was used and Sheep soap.

 

[JWK1]

Why is it that everyone here seems to get along with this blade except me?

A little over two years ago a friend sent me a few tucks to try. I had given him a NDC Gillette tech, brush, and Arko for Christmas a year or two before that, so he got sucked into the wet shaving vortex. One of the tucks was Kai. I went through two of those blades and absolutely hated them. I thought they were harsh and dull. This is after I had been wet shaving for four years.

So two things:
1. I was not shaving with as much skill as I had thought.
2. These blades are different.

We know these blades are ever so slightly wider than other DE blades. I think there is more to it than that. Kai claims they are not coated with anything. I think that might be a part of it, if it is true. I don't blindly believe anything a manufacturer states anymore. However, I do know for certain that for me, I need to shave a little differently with these compared to my other blades. I have to pay much closer attention to the angle, and I am finding that I am using a slightly different angle when I feel a certain harshness.

In any case, I "get along" with these blades, but I am not totally sold or in love with them. However, my hatred from two years ago is gone. Right now I don't know what to think, but I do very much find this thread fascinating. Never before have so many people tested Kai blades at the same time in one cyber space.

My suggestion for you would be to go back to a familiar blade for a cycle, then come back to a Kai with a different approach. Two things that have been helpful to me is to use an even lighter touch than I use already, and to try different angles. I'm not saying that will "do it", just that I think it's worth a try. I don't know what's going on with these blades or what to think yet.

Good luck and good shaves to you.

 

[borwish]

SHAVE NO. 4
3 days growth

Preshave: Warm shower with Palmolive bath bar
Razor: 1975 English Tech
Blade: Kai
Soap: Stirling Sharp Dressed Man
Brush: Stirling Pro Handle Synthetic
After: Stirling Sharp Dressed Man splash

A few have mentioned the 4th shave being the smoother than the preceding, but that was not my case. This might have been the result of switching from heavy razors to a milder, small, light razor. Next I'll try a large but light razor with 2 days growth. The four corner blade alignment issue returned, but was corrected easily after a few tries.

2 1/2 passes resulting in BBS everywhere but the usual patch. No irritation or other problems. I feel good, smell good, and if the light is dim enough, look good.

 

[borwish]

As far as the Kais are concerned, I started to wonder if the inconsistency stems from the blades not being glued to their wrappers.
Of my five Kais, three have slightly scored the wrappers, possibly due to shifting during mailing. I'd think that the blade edges rubbing on the paper must have a dulling effect.

Some of mine partially cut through their wrapper.

 

[Grundi]

Mysterious KAI Blade#3 (1)

TL;DR - Very nice DFS+ shave, MEM Olive is slick, 1 weeper, and some irritation

Equipment: Gillette KcG razor with MEM Olive

Results: for our B&B mate, @JohnPS, I dropped Mysterious KAI Blade #3 into my relatively new KcG razor, returned to using MEM Olive shaving cream and had a wonderful shave. Like Blade #2 Shave 1, I did have some irritation after the shave (and I expect this to diminish with subsequent uses). The KcG razor, purchased on-sale at Walgreen's, is quite mild and heavy, and the KAI Blade gives the razor a nice bump in performance. This turned out to be a very nice combination for me (I like the KcG razor, its weight, and the long handle; however, I would prefer the knurling to be a bit more aggressive and extend all the way down the handle). Although I did have some irritation (not too bad), I walked away with a DFS+ shave with only 1 weeper.

Contrast: for an in-Participation contrast, I've been using a Racer Stainless blade for the past couple of shaves. For me, these are lower, mid-tier blades that I only get 3 SAS+ shaves from. Returning to the Mysterious KAI Blade, I can definitely tell that KAI's are a top-tier blade.

 

[borwish]

Mysterious KAI Blade#3 (1)
....
The KcG razor, purchased on-sale at Walgreen's, is quite mild and heavy, and the KAI Blade gives the razor a nice bump in performance. This turned out to be a very nice combination for me (I like the KcG razor, its weight, and the long handle; however, I would prefer the knurling to be a bit more aggressive and extend all the way down the handle).

The King C. Gillette is highly underappreciated. It's only negative is the end of the handle. For me wet hands are no problem but add a little soap and it's dangerous. A quick rinse of any soap solves the problem.

I bought mine on a whim. The wife asked me to get her a nail file. The nail files were dead across from the KCG display. There was a promotion and Walgreens had sent me a targeted coupon as a result of doing an online order/store pick up for some Williams. It cost a little more than $13 total. You can't easily beat that.

 

[trentr]

So, these blades finally arrived after more than 3 weeks from USA.

And I did an evening shave with 1.5 days worth of growth with one of these. I simply couldn't wait till tomorrow to try it.

Razor: Merkur 37C slant.
Brush: Omega boar.
Cream: Denim Black.
AS: Jovan Black Musk.

Well, things didn't turn out too well for me. The shave was quite tuggy and rough. It's nowhere near as smooth as Astra SP and other Russian Gillette I've tried.

I even got redness on my neck, moustache area and chin which rarely ever happens to me. Maybe when I was a noob, but not in awhile already.

On certain parts like my neck, XTG (sideway movements) felt like it was pulling instead of cutting. ATG on the moustache area felt like it was skipping and pulling. It was really quite rough ATG there although, to be fair, it did knock every strand of hair down. At no point did I feel that this is a sharp blade despite some people putting it on the same level as Feather.

In terms of closeness, it did shave as close my other blades. But my other blades cost just a small fraction of Kai and felt smoother and sharper with no drama.

Some of you might know, I've been griping about Lord's bad QC for some time and this feels almost like a defective Lord blade.

I really HATE to badmouth something given to me for free but then I don't want to lie and say it was great for me when it was not. And I really feel sorry for the guy who bought these. At $45 USD for 100 on Ebay, it sure is a let down. There are plenty of other blades between $10 to $20 for 100 and feel way smoother and sharper than this. Perhaps Kai blades are overhyped? Maybe people just assume expensive = great? I don't know.

Disclaimer: These are my personal opinion. Also, I could have gotten a bad blade in a pack or it simply hates my Merkur 37C although I highly doubt the latter since it has a reputation for being a blade junkie. There are many variables here.

In a few more days, I'll try another different razor or simply use another different blade from the pack. I want to give it the benefit of the doubt that it might be better on the 2nd shave or I simply unwrapped a bad blade because I find it hard to believe that something that costs so much and made with Japanese precision engineering could turn out this bad.

Right now, my skin really needs to heal and I haven't felt this way since I started DE shaving a few years back when I was a noob.

I do not think it is bad mouthing to present an opinion of a blade sent out for opinions. I think people want real experience and not sugar coating, other wise the results and future people looking into said product will be mislead. Most everything about this hobby is personal preference and we all have our individual opinions. Sad to hear you did not like them. No skin off anyone's nose.... perhaps a bit of aggravated skin on your chin haha. Anyway, good luck to you in finding the blade that feels great to your face.

 

[BGO37]

Blade 2 Shave 3 & 4

You know how much I like these blades. I haven't made it any secret and I try and look for negatives, hardly finding any. Well today is different.

I decided to go one razor with one blade. I have been using my ball end tech and this blade. The shaves have gotten worse as I have moved on. They have been harsh and mean to my face. Giving me some irritation and negative feed back with witchhazel.

I don't know if these two just don't like each other or if they are bad influences to each other. Either way I took out the blade and put it into another razor that worked fine.

I haven't had any issues with the ball end before. I try and give the razor some grace as I might have a bad day shaving. Cant put my shortcomings on it. But when you have a pattern, you cant ignore it.

So, no more KAI blades in the ball end. It wasn't the worst shave of my life but it wasn't close the shaves I got on the first blade.

 

[woodwzrd]

Blade 1 Shave 7

Pre Shave: Hot shower and Neutrogena face wash
Razor: WCS Toothsome head
Blade: Kai
Brush: Maggard Synthetic
Soap: Stirling Gatlinburg
AS Balm: Nivea
AS: Stirling Executive Man
Beard Oil: Stirling Executive Man
EDT: Stirling Executive Man

Had a Stirling kind of morning today. I dug out my Great Grandfathers Old Spice mug with a sample puck up Gatlinburg in it and followed everything up with some Executive Man.

The Kai blade continues to work great in this razor. After my last shave I was thinking that this might be the last but it was another great shave with little to no tugging and no irritation. It is not as smooth as some other blades that I have used but seems to be pretty efficient. I want to try a couple of other razors but will wait to start with a new one once this one finally dies.

4.5/5

 

[geneaut]

Why is it that everyone here seems to get along with this blade except me?

So far it hasn't been a great blade for me. A little too much face feel to be super comfy, and I have an uptick in weepers with it. In a mild razor it has been OK but not a favorite of mine by any means.

 

[Chard52142]

The mysterious blades finally found it's way to my place!

Tue 23rd SOTD Blade#1 Shave#1
Soap OSP BayRum
Brush DS Cosmetics 26mm Badger
Razor GC 0.84-P SB
Blade KAI 1st - Initial impression is good. Let's see how for the next few days.
Post & Aftershaves Ice Water + Thayers + Hyaluronic + Clubman VIBR
This is real classy soap, easily producing a creamy, slick, and lovely scented lather.
The shave with razor paired with the mysterious blade was quite good actually. Rather smooth and comfortable even for the atg pass on the chin and lips area. However, found the shave is better & smoother with a shallow angle. 3passes for a mixed bbs to dfs result, however encountered 3 weepers...Excellent aftershave. Rating 9/10

 

[Tanuki]

Why is it that everyone here seems to get along with this blade except me?

For me, a light touch is the essence of comfortable, effective DE and SE shaving. The angles come intuitively. So that is my general approach.

That said, I only used my sample tuck of Kai blades to pep up mild razors. (Such as my iKon slants.) I'm using this PIF tuck to try the Kais in efficient/aggressive razors. No doubt that I have to take more care to get a comfortable Kai shave out of an efficient razor. The extra blade exposure is significant.

I am a big fan of the Merkur slant head and consider it quite efficient. I currently own both a vintage 37 and a 39C, as well as having used a Merkur 36 slant in a two razor rotation for three decades. I haven't put a Kai in a Merkur slant, but I will and see what I think.

Meantime, your experience sounds like a defective or damaged blade to me. I'm not going to tell you to hurt your face again to find out, but unwrapping a different Kai might lead to a better result.